Five DIY naked wedding cake tips

Wedding cakes can be expensive, especially if you’re on a
budget. So, if you’re feeling confident enough you could consider making it
yourself. Creating your own DIY naked wedding cake doesn’t have to be
complicated but it does require a bit of thought beforehand – the last thing
you want is see your masterpiece sliding to the floor in a messy puddle because
you forgot to dowel it!

However, with a bit of careful planning and if you follow these five tips you’ll smash it.

Plan, plan, plan and plan some more

DIY naked wedding cakes are far easier to
make than a fully iced sculpture which requires a serious amount of hours and
skills. They also take much less time which, if you’re also planning all the
other wedding bits, is important – the last thing you want is to run around on
your wedding day, panicking about your cake while your make-up artists chases
you with a blusher brush.

Not only that, they’re bang on trend with
the rustic more natural feel lots of couples are currently going for.

But they do require planning if you’re going
to fit it all in.

DIY naked wedding cakes dry out quickly, so
they really need to be made close to your wedding day. If you don’t have the
time though, you can freeze them before filling. Wrap them well in clingfilm as
soon as they are cool and whack them in the freezer. Get the out the day before,
fill them and keep them refrigerated until it’s time to set it up.

Keep it simple

DIY naked wedding cakes are by their very
nature supposed to look handmade and rustic. Keep the cakes plain and add in
colour with fresh fruits and flowers piled around the cake. Just remember with
the fresh flowers to only use ones that are suitable for cake use i.e. not poisonous.
Check out which fresh flowers you can and can’t use and make sure to wrap the
stems regardless, so the sap doesn’t come into contact with the cake. Or opt
for edible blooms to give your cake a real fresh, bright look.

Enlist
the help of a friend

You’re going to have loads to do for your
wedding day, like getting ready to ACTUALLY GET MARRIED!!! Do you really want
to be fannying about with your cake?! If I were you I would ask a trusted
friend to help put it together for you while you’re getting yourself all dolled
up. This goes hand in hand with planning – talk them through everything
beforehand and make sure they know what they’ve got to do. Also, make sure it’s
a good friend – taking responsibility for the cake is a big ask and they need
to be ready and willing!

Don’t forget to dowel

A few years ago I was at a wedding where
the mother of bride had made DIY naked wedding cake but forgot this fundamental
bit of cake architecture. As the evening wore on the cake started to resemble
the leaning tower of Pisa. Staff were frantically running around inserting
skewers with wild abandon, desperately trying to keep it upright but to no
avail – the whole lot ended up a big mess on the table.

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, DON’T
FORGET TO USE DOWELS!!!

Dowels are available online from many places like Cake Stuff or Vanilla Valley and are inexpensive. They can be cut to length and inserted vertically into the cakes below to support the weight of the cake on top. Each cake should also be on a thin hidden cake board which sits on top of the dowels and supports the weight of the one above.

It’s not rocket science just basic engineering
because you’d be surprised at how heavy a cake can weigh.

Get your numbers right

Unless you’re serving the cake as an actual
dessert, it’s always best to under serve the amount of cake you need by about 20%-25%.
This is because a) not everyone eats cake b) if they’ve already had a big
wedding breakfast, they might not fancy much cake and c) loads of people will
get really pissed and won’t even notice your beautifully crafted cake slices lying
on the buffet table.

As a guide, here is how we work out our
cake portions. These are based on 2” x 1” slices x the depth of cake which is
normally 5” in our calculations so the portions rae already fairly generous.

4” round = 6 portions

6” round = 12 portions

8” round = 24 portions

10” round = 38 portions

12” round = 50 portions

Feel free to browse through our naked cakes for design ideas. And if after that you’re still not sure you want to take on the challenge then why not give us a buzz and see what cake we can create for you. It might be a little more expensive, but it might just save you from a lot of stress and hassle too!